A serious danger for pets during the summer months is that they will overheat. Dogs are particularly vulnerable in that they do not sweat but rather cool their bodies by panting. Panting involves fast breathing to cause saliva in the mouth to evaporate thereby cooling the dog. Fortunately, dogs can be kept cool and comfortable in most cases by providing sufficient quantities of cool water. Many dog owners will refill dog bowls with cool water, sometimes including ice. However, when the owner is not home during the day or forgets, the dog can suffer.
To remedy the forgoing problem, prior art devices have been developed to provide cool pet water. For example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2009/0120370 to Maeda, entitled “Water Drinking Container for Animals”, discloses a pet bowl with a compartment in which a frozen material is placed. The frozen material can be contained in a plastic bag and will cool the water in the bowl much as ice would. A downside of this approach is that the frozen material eventually melts and must be re-frozen. As another example, U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2007/0022964 to Reusche et al., entitled “System and Method for Cooling Water within a Pet Bowl”, discloses a pet bowl having a porous container, wherein water passes through the porous container and wicks to an outer surface. The portion of the water that wicks to the outer surface evaporates, thereby cooling the water within the bowl. Furthermore, the device includes a fan to blow air over the outer surface of the porous container to promote quicker evaporation.